Book-indexing.



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UNIE

E OFFIQE.

CHARLES HERMAN DRAKE OF BROOKLYN, NEIN YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HOYT N. McCLAIN AND WALTER .HOLLOWELL OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BOOK-INDEXING.

Application filed January 23, 1909.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES HERMAN BRAKE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Book-Indexing, of which the following is a specification.

rIhis invention relates to improvements in book indexing and is more particularly adapted for use as an index for record books such as lodge, court or county record books or loose leaf ledgers and the like. Accordingly I have shown my system of indexing as applied to a lodge record although it is obviously not confined to this particular kind of book.

Among the salient objects of the invention are to provide a system of indexing whereby when the record is open at any given section the user can turn to any other desired section without referring to the original index on the fly leaf of the book; to provide a system of the character referred to which is particularly adapted for use as an index in which the headings of the sections can-l not be intelligently abbreviated; to provide a cross indexing system of the above character which obviates the necessity of mutilating the leaves, thus permitting the use of a stock form of leaves; to provide a system in which not only the original index but the cross indexing is all concealed when the book is closed which may be desirable in the records of secret societies and the like; to provide a system in which the cross indexing under any one section may be repeated at intervals, where a number of leaves are used under any oneA heading or section, as in the case of loose leaf ledgers or other similar records; and in general to provide an eflicient and economical system of indexing of the character described.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a lodge record book provided with my improved system of indexing, the book being shown in open position. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detailed view of one of the tabs with which my index is provided.

Referring to the drawings 1 designates as a Whole a lodge record book divided into a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. Il, 1910.

Serial No. 473,816.

plurality of sections each of which may consist of one or more leaves and shown as open at the section entitled Special committee report. Upon the respective margins of this section is printed or written a complete index of the lodge record in question.

My system of indexing is in the present instance, so arranged that when the book is open at any particular section or heading, a complete index of all the preceding sections will be found on the margin of the left hand page, while upon the margin of the right hand page will be found a complete index of all the following` records or reports. For example, upon the left hand page 2 is an index of the section entitled Roll call,7 Applications, Sick reports, etc., the records of which will be found in the book prior to the record of the Special committee report g while upon the right hand page 3 is the index of Motions, Treasurers report, Announcements, etc., which are recorded subsequently to the Special committee report. Each section is also provided with an index of its own heading written or printed just below the last item of the index of the preceding sections. For example, the heading for the Special committee report is placed not only at the top of the section but Valso below the item or heading Sick report as shown in the left-hand page 2 of Fig. 1.

In order that any section may be readily found by means of the cross index, the iirst page of each section is provided with a tab 4C as shown in the drawing. These tabs are directly opposite the indexed heading for each section, i. e.. the tab for the section entitled Sick report is opposite the indexed heading Sick report upon the margin of the left hand page. These tabs may consist of plain strips of relatively stili' material such as cardboard or leather and are pasted or otherwise secured to the edge of the leaves as above described. It is, of course, apparent that the configuration or material of the tabs, or the manner of applying them may be more or less changed although preferably the edges of the paper are not mutilated in applying these tabs. As seen in the drawing they extend suiiciently beyond the edges of the leaves so as to be readily grasped by the operator.

Assuming that the lodge record is open as shown in Fig. l and it is desirous to turn to the list of Announcements, the secretary runs his eye over the index before him until he reaches the item desired whereupon he places his finger beneath the tab opposite the index of this item and turns to the report in question. A preceding item is found in exactly the same way except that the finger will obviously have to be placed on the top of the tab and all the leaves above the tab turned back. This results from the fact that the tabs are secured to the first page of each item and if the finger was placed beneath the tab in question the secretary would turn back a page too far.

It is, of course, to be noted that the complete index is preferably placed on the fly leaf of the book or at the end of the book. Each separate item may be sub-indexed as much as desired in a similar manner without, however, in any Way affecting the main index. Where a relatively large number of leaves are used under each section the cross index for that particular section may be repeated as loften as desired. In other words if the section should consist of four sheets in place of two the indexes found on the first two sheets of the section might be repeated on the next two sheets and so on. This would probably be advisable in relatively large ledgers or similar books.

Inasmuch as each tab l is opposite that item or heading of the index corresponding to its particular sect-ion and as the various items of each cross index are in register with the corresponding items on the other cross indexes, there is no danger of any mistake in locating any desired section. Furthermore the above described arrangement of indexing is so simple that it can be readily used with any blank form of book thus obviating the necessity of specially formed or cut leaves as is necessary in most of the systems of indexing now in use.

While I have herein shown a preferred manner of using my system of indexing it is of course apparent that the embodiment here shown may be considerably varied without in any manner departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

l. In a book binder, the combination with a plurality of sections, a distinctive heading upon each section, a complete index of the preceding and succeeding headings upon the face of each section, the corresponding headings of the various indices being substantially in alinement with each other, and a tab projecting from the edge of each section opposite the indexed heading pertaining to that section.

2. In a book index, the combination with a plurality of sections, a distinctive heading upon the face of each section, a complete index of the preceding and succeeding sections upon the face of each section, the corresponding headings of the various indices being substantially in alinement with each other, and locating means projecting from Vthe edge of each section opposite the indexed headings pertaining to that section.

3. In a book index, the combination with a plurality of unmutilated leaves, forming' a plurality of sections, of a distinctive heading for each section, a complete index of the preceding and succeeding headings upon the face of each section, the corresponding headings of the various indices being substantially in register with each other, and locating means projecting from the edge of each leaf opposite the indexed headings of that leaf.

et. A plurality of sections, each comprising one or more leaves, a distinctive heading upon each section, and a complete index of all the headings upon the face of each section.

CHARLES HERMAN BRAKE. lVitnesses:

(l1-nis. D. BURNETT,

CHAS. W. Snrrz. 

